Budget Deal Reached

Legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a deal this evening to close the state’s $10 billion deficit for the fiscal year that starts April 1.

They are holding a news conference now in the Red Room at the Capitol to announce the deal after meeting behind closed doors for about an hour this afternoon.

The agreement reconciles the sides’ differences over prison closures, school aid cuts and Medicaid reforms and represents the first cut in state spending in more than a decade. If approved by lawmakers this week, the budget would be on-time for the first time in five years and only the third time since 1984.

Lawmakers have largely gone along with the Cuomo proposed on Feb. 1, agreeing to a $132.5 billion budget that would reduce state spending by more than 2 percent from the current year, eliminate 3,700 prison beds, establish regional economic development councils and cut school aid by more than $1 billion.

Cuomo also got what he said was key to righting the state’s fiscal situation: a two-year deal to cap the spending growth for schools and Medicaid, the two most expensive items in the budget.

“I have said that New York is at a crossroads – one road leading to further dysfunction and decline, the other towards fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. I believe this budget puts us on the right path,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo agreed to add back $272 million in education aid after initially proposing to cut schools by $1.5 billion. The restoration of funding includes money for schools for the blind and deaf and summer school special education. They also added back $91 million for human services and $86 million for public colleges and universities. Roughly $33 million was restored for local governments and agriculture programs.

Cuomo said that with other changes to the budget, the net increase in spending over his budget plan is about $250 million.

The deal is a major victory for Cuomo, the Democratic governor who is in first year in office. Cuomo has vowed to insert his own budget proposal into budget extenders if a deal wasn’t reached by April 1, which would have left lawmakers to either go along with his plan or shut down state government.

Because of the governor’s power, legislators sought to reach a deal with Cuomo to avoid a standoff.

“This budget agreement keeps our Senate Republican commitment to reduce spending, cut taxes and empower the private sector to create jobs, and will begin to put New York on the path to fiscal recovery,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said in a statement.